The Economics of the Modern Data Stack

Описание: The modern data stack was built on open-source innovation and VC-fuelled growth. Tools like dbt, Airflow, Fivetran, and Snowflake made best-of-breed architectures possible. But as stacks scaled, the economics quietly changed.
In this LinkedIn Live discussion, industry practitioners unpack what consolidation, managed open source, and ingestion pricing models really mean for data leaders over the next 24 months.
This is not a tools comparison. It is a conversation about incentives, leverage, and long-term architectural resilience.

🔍 What We Discuss
Why the modern data stack moved from simplicity to fragmentation


What the dbt–Fivetran merger signals for governance, pricing, and roadmap decisions


The managed open-source playbook, using Airflow and Astronomer as a blueprint


Why data ingestion behaves differently from other layers of the stack


How connector sprawl quietly drives up costs and reduces flexibility


Why migrations are so hard and how that creates vendor pricing power


How to evaluate vendors through an economics lens, not just features


What AI and emerging tooling might change about stack complexity and operations



🎙️ Expert Panel
Taylor Murphy (Arch)
Industry practitioner on the economics of connectors, reliability, and where ingestion platforms make or lose money.


Aaron Phethean (Matatika)
Founder and CEO of Matatika, connecting stack design decisions with open-source monetisation and long-term leverage.


Max Beauchemin
Creator of Apache Airflow and Apache Superset, sharing lessons from building and commercialising open-source infrastructure at scale.



👥 Who This Is For
Heads of Data, Analytics, and Engineering


CTOs and senior decision-makers managing platform costs


Teams heavily invested in dbt and/or Airflow


Leaders renegotiating ingestion spend or dealing with connector sprawl


Anyone designing a data stack that needs to stay flexible as OSS becomes monetised



💡 Key Question Explored
The question is no longer “Is open source winning?”
It is: who captures the value, and what does that mean for your architecture, budgets, and negotiation power?

📺 Watch the full discussion above
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